ANCIENT  CIVILIZATION  ON  THE  NILE. 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


FRANKLIN  AND  WASHINGTON  LITERARY  SOCIETIES 


EASTON,  FJL.. 

During  the  Exercises  of  the  Thirtieth  Commencement,  July  25th.  1865. 


Rev.  J.  W.  WOOD,  A.  M. 


Glass  of  1837.  anb  |Jasfor  of  tjje  |)r£sbgf£nan  <£bar£b,  in  gilicntoton.  jla. 


ANCIENT  CIVILIZATION  ON  THE  NILE. 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


FRANKLIN  AND  WASHINGTON  LITERARY  SOCIETIES 


9 


E ASTON,  F A^.. 

During  the  Exercises  of  the  Thirtieth  Commencement,  July  25th,  1865, 


BY 


Rev.  J.  W/WOOD,  A.  M., 


(Class  of  1837,  anb  pastor  of  %  |jrtsbjit£naii  <£bnrr{j,  in  gilknioton,  $a. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  FRANKLIN  LITERARY  SOCIETY. 


LEWIS 


EASTON,  PA.: 
GORDON,  PRINTER, 
18G5. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Franklin  Hall,  Lafayette  College,  Sept.  13,  1865. 

Rev.  J  as.  W.  Wood  : 

Dear  Sib  : — At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Franklin  Literary  Society, 
held  this  day.  the  undersigned  were  appointed  a  committee  to  solicit,  for  publica- 
tion, a  copy  of  your  valuable  and  instructive  address,  delivered  before  the  Frank- 
lin and  Washington  Literary  Societies,  July  24th,  1865.  In  discharging  this 
most  pleasant  duty,  allow  us  to  join  our  own  personal  solicitations  to  those  of 
the  society. 

With  great  respect, 

Wm.  Mckenzie, 
e.  p.  conkling,  ' 
robt.  j.  hess, 

Committee  of  Publication. 


Allentown,  Pa.,  Sept.  18,  1865. 

Messrs.  McKenzie,  Conklino  and  Hess: 

<J  kntlemkn  : — Your  note  of  the  13th  inst.  was  duly  received.  The 
Franklins,  with  their  usual  enterprise  and  kindness,  solicit  through  you  a  copy 
of  the  address  to  which  you  allude  for  publication.  As  it  was  called  forth  by 
their  flattering  partiality,  a  loyal  Franklin,  as  I  claim  to  be,  can  do  no  less  than 
submit  it  to  your  disposal. 

Very  truly,  yours, 

J.  W.  WOOD 


ADDRESS 


The  student  of  the  early  condition  of  our  race  walks  among  the 
ruins  of  Empire,  Art,  and  Morals.  Yet  these  ruins  contain  in- 
structive evidences  of  much  culture  and  advancement,  in  the  periods 
of  which  they  are  the  remains.  Our  race  started  from  an  elevated 
and  highly  civilized  condition,  but  through  sin  its  progress  was 
gradually  downward,  until  its  descent  was  arrested  by  the  elevating 
forces  of  a  supernatural  faith. 

Man  was  the  noblest  work  of  God.  In  the  brilliant  worlds 
which  rolled  from  the  hands  of  the  Great  Architect — in  the  beauty 
and  utility  of  our  planet,  and  in  the  mysterious  life  of  animals  and 
plants,  He  seems  to  have  employed  every  ideal  pattern,  and  to 
have  wrought  it  out.  into  some  tangible  expression  of  His  wisdom 
and  love.  Himself  alone  remained  as  the  prototype  of  the  next 
creation,  and  He  adopted  even  that,  ''He  created  man  in  his  own 
image — in  the  image  of  God  created  He  him.'"  and  then  constituted 
him  lord  of  the  world.  Thus  created  and  crowned,  with  a  paradise 
for  his  home,  was  Adam  an  imbecile  in  intellect — a  child  in  knowl- 
edge, a  boor  in  manners?  Was  Eve  a  brainless  beauty — a  banter- 
ing belle — a  barbarian  bride  Scripture,  history,  and  reason 
answer,  No.  Humanity  in  them  was  at  its  highest  elevation,  and 
after  sin  transpired,  such  was  the  perfect  adjustment  of  bodily  and 
mental  powers  that  life  extended  through  nearly  a  thousand  years. 
There  was  in  them  such  a  combination  of  physical  and  mental 
forces,  that  some  of  their  descendants,  for  years  after  the  Hood, 
were  a  highly  civilized,  intellectual  and  thrifty  people.  The  deluge 
was  sent  to  preserve  the  knowledge,  the  arts  and  the  religion  of 
the  primitive  eras,  and  these  Were  treasured  and  perpetuated  by 
the  children  of  Ham  in  Egypt.  It  is  to  this  ANCIENT  CIVILIZA- 
TION IN  THE  VALLEY  of  THE  NlLE,  and  to  a  glance  at  its  westward 
progress,  that  your  attention  i<  solicited. 


6 


In  the  days  of  Peleg,  the  race  was  overtaken  with  laziness  and 
pride,  and  made  up  its-mind  to  stay  at  home  around  a  tower  in  the 
plain  of  Shinar.  But  the  confusion  of  the  pronunciation  (in  He- 
brew— the  lip)  of  the  one  language,  which  all  used,  resulted  in 
emigration.  The  history  of  the  descendants  of  Shorn  and  Japheth 
is  wholly  lost,  for  nearly  900  years  after  the  flood,  excepting  k 
few  notices  of  individuals  in  the  Bible.  Not  until  the  Exodus  (B. 
C.  1491,)  does  the  national  history  of  the  Jews  properly  begin. 
Not  a  single  monument  is  known  to  exist,  erected  before  the  tern- 
pie  of  Solomon,  to  attest  the  skill  and  power  of  the  descendants  of 
Shcm  and  Japheth — while  the  works  of  the  children  of  Ham — erect- 
ed before  the  Jewish  temple,  still  remain,  eliciting  the  admiration, 
and  commanding  the  imitation  of  all  subsequent  ages.  Ham  was 
providentially  selected  to  transmit  to  modern  eras  the  secular 
knowledge  and  civilization  of  the  more  ancient  times,  just  as  Shem 
imparts,  through  a  written  revelation,  the  knowledge  of  religious 
ideas  and  purposes..  That  the  ancient  Egyptians  descended  from 
Ham  we  know  from  the  Bible,  but  Rawlinson  in  his  notes  on  Her- 
oditus  (vol.  II,  p.  21,  234,)  also  says,  "their  skull  shows  them  to 
have  been  of  the  Caucasian  stock,  and  distinct  from  the  African 
tribes  westward  of  the  Nile."  The  recent  investigations  in  Eth- 
nology agree  with  the  suggestions  of  scripture  and  strengthen  the 
probability  that  the  negroes  have  descended  from  Shem,  and  not 
from  Ham,  so  that  matters  grow  worse  and  worse  with  the  stupid 
theology  that  panders  to  slavery  by  imputing  a  curse  on  Ham  ! 

There  was  a  period  of  1340  years  between  the  flood  and  the 
erection  of  Solomon's  temple.  To  this  period  our  remarks  are  con- 
fined, and  it  is  beyond  dispute,  that  1340  years  afford  ample  time 
for  the  planting — the  growth  and  the  monumental  and  literary 
works  of  a  great  and  intelligent  nation.  It  is  less  than  250  years 
since  our  fathers  came  to  these  shores  to  begin,  in  a  rocky  wilder- 
ness, the  work  which  has  already  been  accomplished.  What  for- 
ests have  been  felled — what  cities  built — canals  dug — stone  edifices 
erected — statuary  chiselled — inscriptions  cut — what  giant  machin- 
ery has  been  set  in  motion — what  tunnels  bored  through  mountains 
— what  acqueducts  and  viaducts  !  Now  if  this  country  were  made 
a  wilderness  to-day,  and  should  continue  so  a  thousand  years,  the 


T 


intelligent  traveller  would  then  find  most  convincing  proofs  of  our 
knowledge — our  arts — our  skill  and  our  civilization  among  the 
ruins  of  cities,  and  on  monuments  inscribed  with  names  and  dates 
and  histories.  What  curiosities  would  be  found  among  the  debris 
of  the. United  States  Mint — what  curiously  shaped  masses  of  iron 
on  the  site  of  forges,  rolling  mills  and  locomotive  shops — what 
stone  walls,  piers  and  abutments — what  a  relic  for  an  antiquarian 
to  find,  in  the  millenium,  will  be  that  little  gun,  made  in  the  peace- 
ful State  of  Penn. — 17  feet  long,  and  into  the  muzzle  of  which 
an  Alderman  might  creep  !  Would  it  be  difficult  to  draw  from 
such  sources  a  reliable  general  estimate  of  the  learning,  power  and 
civilization  of  this  people  ?  The  remains  of  Egypt  are  as  abun- 
dant and  decisive  for  the  period  which  1  have  named. 

Isolated  from  the  ignorance  and  corruptions  of  Central  Asia — 
separated  and  guarded  by  two  wide  deserts,  and  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Red  Seas,  the  Egyptians  were  best  situated  to  preserve 
uncorrupted  the  primitive  arts  and  revelations  made  to  Adam,  to 
Enoch  and  to  Noah.  It  was  not  chance  that  laid  that  green  plain 
600  miles  through  the  desert — that  dug  the  channel  for  the  best 
river  in  the  world,  and  flung  over  all  the  most  enchanting  skies. 
There,  in  the  groves  of  her  lordly  palms,  her  scholars  and  archi- 
tects thought,  invented  and  moulded  for  the  world.  While  all  clear 
ideas  in  morals  and  religion  are  preserved  to  man  in  the  revelation 
made  to  the  family  of  Abraham,  almost  all  the  uninspired,  vet  nor- 
mal forms  of  matter  wrought  by  man,  originated  in  Egypt.  Gre- 
cian sa^es  travelled  thither  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  her  philosophers, 
and  the  architects,  who  crowned  the  Acropolis  of  Athens  with  its 
glory,  found  their  patterns  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  The  agricul- 
tural, mechanical  and  musical  arts  cultivated  in  the  family  of  La- 
ntech, and  the  science  and  skill  of  those  who  built  the  Ark.  were 
not  only  not  forgotten,  but  usefully  employed  and  enlarged.  The 
proportions  of  our  mighty  ocean  craft,  and  the  forme  of  our  viols 
and  organs,  came  down  through  Egypt  from  antediluvian  times. 

The  ancient  name  of  the  Nile,  as  given  by  Homer,  was  EgypttlS. 
Its  affluent  floods  are  gathered  on  the  high  plateaus  of  the  tropic, 
and  after  receiving  its  last  tributary,  it  rolls  yet  1700  miles  to  the 
sea.  which  it  enters  at  about  the  same  latitude  as  does  our  Missis- 


8 


sippi.  There  is  an  enchantment  about  this  <>1<1  river.  Its  majestic 
flow  is  under  a  climate  as  calm  and  sweet  as  that  of  the  Elysian 
fields,  where  Greece  sought  in  fable  the  home  of  her  gods.  Wav- 
ing acres  of  grass  and  grain  smilingly  attest  it-  prodigal  beneficence 
— groves,  of  the  tall,  plmme^crested  palm,  adorn  its  plains — birds 
of  gorgeous  plumage  bathe  in  its  waters — hoary  pyramids  and 
temples  ami  tombs  recall  the  scenes  of  4000  years  ago  ;  and,  as  the 
christian  traveller  glides  on  its  current,  charmed,  as  by  the  river 
of  a  dream,  with  its  magnificence  and  quiet  beauty,  he  is  more 
I  than  delighted  with  the  probability,  that  he  is  gazing  on  the  very 
symbol  of  heaven  which  John  uses  when  he  says:  "And  he  shewed 
me  a  pure  river  of  the  water  of  life,  in  the  midst  of  whose  plain, 
even  on  either  side  of  the  river,  was  there  the  tree  of  life  which 
bare  twelve  manner  of  fruits."  Here,  if  anywhere,  might  the 
second  infancy  of  the  race  be  reared  to  manhood,  and  civilization 
receive  some  of  its  permanent  forms. 

Egypl  alone,  of  all  the  countries  mi  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  re- 
tains its  ancient  fertility.  It  has  been  recently  shown  by  Dr.  Cole- 
man in  the  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  that  nearly  one-third  of  the  fertility 
of  Spain,  Italy.  Greece,  Asia   Minor,  Palestine  and  North  Africa 

has  been  lost  by  the  destruction  of  their  forests — by  meteorological 
changes,  and  by  war.  while  that  of  Egypt  is  renewed  every  year  by 
the  waters  of  its  life  giving  river.  The  agricultural  skill  of  the 
people  made  the  country  the  granery  of  the  ancient  world,  and 
without  it  the  great  population  of  Palestine  under  the  kings  could 
not  have  existed. 

1  will  not  tax  your  patience  with  the  details  of  the  wonderful 
monuments  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  which  attest  their  learning 
and  civilization.  In  the  vast  National  Cemetery,  near  the  ruins  of 
Ancient  Memphis,  we  gaze  with  wonder  on  the  huge  old  Pyramids 
— the  Sphynx.  the  tomb  of  the  Apis,  and  the  countless  sepulchres 
of  heroes,  artisans,  princes,  millionaires,  and  sa vans,  chiselled  in  the 
living  rock,  and  adorned  with  the  arts  of  sculpture,  painting  and 
writing.  In  like  manner,  for  500  miles  up  the  sacred  river,  tem- 
ples, statues,  obolisks  and  records,  bear  witness  to  a  race  of  men 
who  thought  and  wrought,  with  a  skill  equal  to  that  which  built  the 
tomb  of  Napoleon,  or  the  Capitol  at  Washington.    Thebes,  the 


••populous  No"  of  the  Bible,  baffles  description.  The  temple  of 
Karnac  is  1200  feet  long  and  275  broad  !  Who  shall  describe  its 
avenues  of  sphvnxes.  its  propyla,  its  statues  of  Gods  and  men,  its 
adytum  and  its  inscriptions  ?  Its  obolisks  alone  seem  more  like 
the  work  of  angels  than  of  men.  A  single  shaft  of  granite  97  feet 
high,  8  feet  square  at  the  base  and  4  at  the  top,  its  sides  dressed  till 
thev  converge  with  mathematical  precision,  and  the  whole  so  per- 
fectly  polished  that  one  can  see  his  face  in  it  after  3000  years,  with 
its  inscriptions  carved  one  inch  deep  with  a  sharpness  of  outline 
nowhere  excelled  :  such  was  not  the  work  of  a  rude  and  ignorant 
people.  Its  union  of  gracefulness  and  grandeur,  of  beauty  and 
sublimity  is  such  that  Heaven  might  well  preserve  it  for  good 
spirits  to  gaze  upon.  It  looks  as  if  the  angels  had  caught  a  stream 
of  the  Northern  Aurora  and  turned  it  into  granite,  and  as  you  see 
it  standing  against  the  gorgeous  after-gloAv  of  an  Egyptian  sun-set. 
as  if  it  stood  upon  a  plain  of  burnished  gold  you  may  well  imagine 
that  holy  ones  would  gather  round  it  to  mark  its  incomparable 
gracefulness  and  to  chant  the  supremacy  of  its  beauty.  How  out 
of  taste  to  remove  such  a  noble  testimony  of  primitive  civilization, 
and  to  cobble  it  up  in  the  Champs  d'  Elvsie  in  Paris  !  None  but 
freaky  Frenchmen  would  thus  offend  the  honor  justly  due  to  an- 
tiquity. Luxor,  with  its  stupendous  columns  and  architraves,  is 
on  the  same  side  of  the  river.  On  the  west  side  are  the  Colossi  on 
the  plain,  the  Memnonium.  Medenet  Haboo,  Goornah,  the  tombs 
of  the  kings,  and  the  statue  of  Rameses  the  great.  This  statue 
represented  the  king  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  was  00  feet  high, 
made  of  a  single  block  of  granit.  and  was  brought  200  miles  from 
Asouan  ! 

I  have  only  to  say,  that  the  men  who  could  rear  these  structure* 
and  adorn  them  as  they  did,  must  have  been  far  advanced  in  those 
departments  of  knowledge  which  constitute  a  large  portion  of  the 
civilization  of  modern  nations. 

Within  300  years  after  the  flood  they  began  their  records  which 
an-  now  being  read,  and  the  art  of  writing  wa<  common  among 
them  500  years  later,  as  the  writing  of  the  pentateuoh  by  Moses 
plainly  shows.  The  pen  is  one  of  the  mighty  instrumentalities  of 
a  progressive  people. 


10 


By  their  knowledge  of  astronomy  they  were  the  first  to  adopt, 
the  solar  year,  and  they  intercalated  one  day  every  fourth  year  as 
we  do  ;  and  they  inscribed  the  Zodiac  on  the  ceilings  of  their  tem- 
ples. They  understood  what  we  call  the  Copernican  system — 
that  the  ecliptic  was  oblique — that  the  moon  shown  by  borrowed 
light,  and  that  the  milky  way  was  a  grand  nebulae  of  stars.  They 
surveyed  their  lands,  and  planned  their  temples,  statues,  and  ob- 
olisks,  by  the  axioms  and  problems  of  geometry  ;  they  managed 
water  by  the  modern  principles  of  hydraulics,  and  used  figures  on 
the  decimal  and  fractional  system.  Medicine  was  reduced  to  a 
science,  and  by  the  compounding  of  drugs,  and  the  division  of  prac- 
tice into  anatomy,  surgery,  embalming,  dentistry,  &c,  Egypt  be- 
came the  school  to  which  the  studeous  of  other  nations  resorted  for 
instruction.  Mummies  are  found.  4000  years  old,  with  teeth  filled 
with  gold ;  with  bones  ouce  broken  properly  set,  and  with  wi<rs 
upon  their  heads  ! 

In  architecture  ancienl  Egypt  remains  the  master  of  the  world. 
What  are  usually  known  as  the  Doric  and  the  Corinthian  orders, 
are  familiar  objects  among  the  monuments.  The  grouped  column, 
credited  to  the  rise  of  the  Gothic  style,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  tombs 
at  Beni  Hassan,  which  are  among  the  oldest  in  the  country.  The 
parts  of  a  column,  the  plinth,  the  shaft,  (square,  polygonal,  fluted, 
or  round)  the  capital,  the  abacus,  as  well  as  the  architrave,  frieze, 
and  cornice,  were  conceived  and  executed  long  before  Athens  and 
Corinth  had  a  name.  Greece  is  pre-eminent  in  her  conceptions  of 
the  beautiful,  and,  in  her  unequalled  taste,  she  is  a  model  for  all 
times ;  but  while  she  excelled  in  ornaments,  the  forms  on  which 
she  placed  them  were  learned  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 

We  may  also  omit  the  details  of  their  household  furniture,  their 
implements  of  husbandry  and  their  weapons  of  war.  The  manufac- 
turing of  these,  and  of  other  things,  is  often  depicted  on  the  walls 
of  their  tombs.  Chairs  were  used  instead  of  the  more  modern 
divan  ;  and  herein  is  evidence,  that  when  a  nation  leaves  its  chairs 
to  sit  on  the  floor,  its  progress  is  downward.  Gold,  silver  and  pre- 
cious stones,  were  beautifully  wrought  into  a  great  variety  of  arti- 
cles, and  wood,  inlaid  with  wood  of  other  colors,  or  with  metals, 
ivory  and  stone,  or  carved  into  the  forms  of  animals  and  fruits. 


11 


graced  their  homes.  Glass,  plain,  colored,  and  ground,  was  man- 
ufactured into  beads,  bottles,  vases,  mosaics,  and  tiles,  or  was  cut 
by  the  diamond,  or  fused  by  the  blow  pipe.  Large  numbers  of 
these  and  of  other  articles  arc  to  be  seen  in  the  Museums  of  Cairo, 
London,  and  New  York. 

At  the  Exodus,  Egypt  had  lived  long  enough  to  have  lapsed  into 
gross  idolatry,  and  to  begin  to  die  ;  yet  in  religion,  too,  she  led  the 
early  states  of  Europe,  so  that,  when  Jehovah  rebuked  idolatry  by 
the  hand  of  Moses  in  Egypt,  he  rebuked  it  at  its  source.  Herodi- 
tus  says  that,  "almost  all  the  gods  came  into  Greece  from  Egypt," 
and  from  Greece  they  were  adopted  by  Rome.  Amun  was  Jupiter 
— Sate  was  Juno — Pthah  was  the  Pemiurgus — Neith  was  Minerva 
— Kem  was  Pan — Seb  was  Saturn — Thoth  was  Mercury,  and  so 
on.  almost  ad  infinitum.  But.  Osiris  was  the  most  celebrated  god 
of  Egypt,  and  the  character  which  they  gave  him  is  among  the 
marvels  of  antiquity.  It  was  held,  that  he  came  into  this  world 
to  do  mankind  good — that  his  title  was.  The  Manifester  of  Good 
and  Truth — that  he  was  put  to  death  through  the  malice  of  the 
Evil  oiu — that  he  was  buried — that  he  rose  from  the  dead — and 
that  now  he  is  the  judge  of  all  men  at  their  death  !  Was  not  this 
the  remains  of  an  early  revelation,  concerning  our  saviour  and 
judge  1 

It  is  manifest  from  an  inspection  of  Egyptian  temples,  and  the 
records  of  religious  rites  practiced  in  them,  that  the  author  of  the 
Mosaic  system  did  not  reject  everything,  because  it  had  been  per- 
verted from  its  original  purpose,  and  been  used  in  the  service  of 
idols.  That  the  heathen  bow  to  their  false  deities.  i<  no  reason 
that  christians  should  not  bow  to  the  true  God.  Sacrifices  and  in- 
cense first  commanded  to  Adam,  came  to  be  used  in  heathen  tem- 
ples, yet  they  might  properly  be  again  commanded  for  the  taber- 
nacle. We  find  it  to  be  a  fact,  therefore,  that  Jehovah  did  not  at 
the  Exode  intend  to  invent  every  form  anew,  but,  that  he  chaleng- 
ed  for  himself  alone,  much  that  had  before  been  devoted  to  idolatry. 
The  tabernacle  with  it<  holy  and  most  holy  place,  and  the  temple 
of  Solomon  with  its  walls,  open  courts,  and  porches  had  their  pro- 
totype in  Egypt.     The  Ark  was  a  continuance  of  the  sacred  boat, 

which  is  represented  on  the  walls  of  the  temples  :is  carried  by  Btai  e* 


I 


12 

on  the  shoulders  of  the  priests.  The  Urim  and  Thummim — the 
robes  of  the  high  priest,  the  offering  of  incense  and  of  fruits  and 
animals,  and  a  daily  sacrifice',  were  known  in  the  idol  worship  of 
Egypt  before  they  were  commanded  in  the  Jewish  economy.  But 
from  these  forms,  the  Decalogue  sweeps  away  all  idol  gods,  and  the 
true  Deity  assumes  his  exclusive  right  to  the  homage  of  man  :  and 
tenches  the  world  in  the  retention  of  appropriate  forms  although 
once  used  in  ignorant  devotions,  that  acceptable  worship  is  not  in 
forms  and  modes,  but  in  the  spirit  of  the  worshipper,  and  the  object 
before  which  he  bows. 

One  of  the  crowning  evidences  of  the  high  civilization  of  the 
most  ancient  Egyptians,  is  found  in  the  treatment  and  position 
accorded  to  woman.  The  king,  the  priest  and  the  men.  had  each 
but  one  wife.  The  royal  household  was.  indeed,  graced  with  the 
most  accomplished  ladies  within  reach,  but  in  early  times,  they  held 
much  the  same  position  as  do  the  maids  of  honor  around  the  Brit- 
ish throne.  The  wife  or  the  daughter  of  a  Pharoh,  succeeded  to 
the  throne  and  reigned  :  the  husband  and  his  wife  sat  together  at 
meals  and  public  entertainments  on  a  large fautaeil,  and  were  en- 
tombed side  by  side  at  death.  Women  appear  in  the  sculptures  as 
priestesses,  and  as  holding  honorable  positions  in  society.  Greece 
rejected,  but  Home  adopted  the  Egyptian  usage  :  and  on  the  Nile 
and  the  Tiber,  the  married  me])  could  proudly  say  with  Cornelius 
Nepos — "Which  of  us  is  ashamed  to  bring  his  wife  to  an  enter- 
tainment, and  what  mistress  of  a  family  can  be  shown,  who  does 
not  occupy  the  chief  and  most  frequented  room  in  the  house  ?" 
Ladies  mingle  freely  with  the  other  sex.  or.  engaged  with  each 
other  in  animated  conversation  on  household  affairs,  on  patterns, 
jewelry,  matrimonial  prospects  and  politics.  They  emulated  each 
other  in  the  value  and  fashion  of  their  garments  and  in  the  arrange- 
ment  of  their  hair  in  braids,  or  curls,  or  puffs,  or  waterfalls — in 
offering  to  a  friend  the  prettiest  boquet,  or  in  complimenting  the 
taste  and  liberality  of  their  host. 

It  was  to  give  to  the  descendants  of  Abraham  the  advantages  of 
such  a  country,  and  of  such  a  civilization,  that  Joseph  was  sent 
down,  and  made  '"governor  over  all  the  land  :"  and  subsequently, 
his  father  and  all  his  house.     It  was  the  school  where  they  learned 


those  lessons  of  science  and  that  practice  of  the  arts,  which  enabled 
them  in  the  wilderness  to  construct  and  ornament  the  tabernacle — 
to  make  the  ark  and  its  mercy  seat  of  gold — to  carve,  or  to  mould 
the  cherubims — to  elaborate  the  golden  candlestick,  and  the  neces- 
sary furniture  for  their  worship  and  their  wants.  Although  Israel 
fell  for  a  time  under  the  cruelty  of  an  oppressive  monarch,  it  was 
that  thev  might  go  out  under  a  leader  ''learned  in  all  the  wisdom 

■I  DO 

of  the  Egyptians,"  and  carrr  with  them  rhe  knowledge  and  the 
wealth  of  Pharonic  time-.  Fur  500  years,  Egypt  and  Israel,  both 
strong  nations,  lived  side  by  side  in  an  honorable  friendship  and 
peace.  Solomon  became  a  favorite  in  Pharoh's  family,  and  Pales- 
tine drew  from  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  her  science,  her  architecture, 
her  arithmetic,  her  weights  and  measures,  her  chariots,  horses  and 
linen  yarn,  and  many  of  her  social  and  religious  forms.  Indeed, 
so  great  was  their  intimacy,  that  Israel  leaned  too  much  on  Egypt, 
and  provoked  the  divine  interference. 

Egypt  has  her  place  in  history,  not  as  an  antagonist  to  the  rev- 
elation made  to  the  Jews,  as  Baron  Bunsen  puts  it,  but  she  is  to- 
day, so  far  as  she  is  understood,  a  grand  repository  of  evidences 
to  the  truthfulness  of  the  biblical  records,  and  a  helper  to  the  faith 
and  civilization  of  Christendom.  Learned  men  have  been  guilty  of 
very  impudent  folly,  in  seizing  with  relish  anything  that  seems  to 
make  against  the  historical  statements  in  the  word  of  God.  The 
Savans,  who  accompanied  Napoleon  to  Egypt,  found  a  lintel  of  a 
doorway  in  the  temple  at  Dendora,  on  which  was  inscribed  the 
Zodiac,  and  some  historical  records.  They  pried  it  out,  and 
brought  it  to  Paris.  The  magi  of  the  University  assembled  around 
it  with  eye  glasses,  microscopes  and  books  ;  and  the  inscription  on 
the  poor  stone  was  made  to  testify,  that  man  had  been  on  the  earth 
12000  years  before  the  Mosaic  date  of  his  creation,  and  the  French- 
men were  ready  to  swear,  that  the  Bible  was  a  delusion.  Books 
and  pamphlets  attested  the  new-born  faith.  Some  unstable  Pro- 
testants were  alarmed,  but  the  Romanists  are  never  much  worried 
when  the  scriptures  are  assailed,  if  tradition  is  let  alone;  and,  since 
the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  stands  pledged  against  Galileo's  doc- 
trine that  the  earth  turns  round,  the  incumbent  of  the  chair  in 
which  Saint  Peter  never  sat,  lias  turned  his  attention  to  polities 


14 

more  than  to  exegesis.  But  in  a  few  years  Youngs  and  Ohain- 
polion  arose  and  correctly  read  the  Denderian  tablet,  and  it  turned 
out  that  Tiberias  had  made  that  inscription,  to  show  that  he  had 
erected  a  part  to  that  old  temple  !  It  is  said  that  the  learned 
books,  first  published  in  Paris  about  the  Zodiac,  are  out  of  print ! 

So,  too,  some  smaller  Eg}^ptologists  in  this  country — like  Mr. 
Gliddon — have  paraded  a  superficial  knowledge  of  Nilotic  lore, 
against  the  Mosaic  chronolegy,  while  the  more  competent  and  judi- 
cious, Wilkinson  and  Rawlinson,  assure  us  that,  "  with  regard  to 
the  age  of  Menes — the  first  king  of  Egypt — and  the  chronology  of 
the  Egyptian  kings,  all  is  very  uncertain.  No  era  is  given  by 
the  monuments,  which  merely  recofd  some  events  that  happened 
under  particular  kings  ;  and  any  calculation  based  on  the  duration 
of  their  reigns  given  to  Manetho,  must  be  even  more  uncertain  than 
that  of  gcneologies."  M.  Mariatte,  now  exploring  Egypt  under 
the  Pasha,  and  before  this  a  strong  advocate  of  the  anti-biblical 
chronology,  has  just  discovered  a  stela  at  Memphis  which,  he  ac- 
knowledges, takes  1500  years  from  his  former  calculations  !  Let 
them  keep  on  digging  and  decyphering  for  the  old  Bible  stands 
good  yet  !  It  deserves  to  be  said  with  emphasis,  that  every  fact 
that  has  been  agreed  upon  and  settled  by  those  most  learned  in 
Egyptian  records,  corresponds  with,  and  corroborates,  the  common 
Hebrew  chronology  given  in  our  English  Bible. 

But  Egypt  is  dead.  She  lacked  the  revelation  of  truth — it  came 
too  late  for  her  in  the  Septuagint — and  it  is  the  experiment  of 
Providence  to  prove,  that  without  that  revelation,  and  its  super- 
natural grace,  a  sustained  civilization  is  an  impossibility  on  this 
earth.  Idolatry  and  slaveay  corrupted  her  life ;  her  kings,  no 
longer  nursing  fathers,  became  despots,  and  her  priests  deceivers. 
Egypt  and  Palestine  fell  together — the  nurse  and  the  child.  It  is 
said  that  it  took  Rome  three  hundred  years  to  die — it  took  Egypt 
more  than  a  thousand  !  525  B.  C.  Cambyses  struck  the  corrupted, 
decrepid  old  nation  the  first  fatal  blow.  Greece  and  Rome  succes- 
sively fell  upon  her  writhing  form,  and  Mahommed  wove  the  dark 

pall  that  now  mantles  her  remains  Egypt  is  dead  !  The 

pale  crescent  only,  shines  on  the  night  of  her  tomb  ! 

Yet  she  lives  in  her  works.    Her  genius,  learning  and  arts,  still 


t5 


swell  the  beneficent  stream  of  human  history,  and,  as  14  West- 
ward the  star  of  Empire  takes  its  way,"  we  see  unfolded  the 
sublime  purposes  of  the  "blessed  and  only  Potentate."  The  first 
great  national  movement,  involved  the  disinheritance  of  Egypt 
from  her  patriarchal  patrimony,  when  her  ancient  civilization,  sep- 
arated from  idolatry  and  despotism,  and  augmented  by  new  revela- 
tions, was  borne  into  the  uncorrupted  wilderness,  by  the  Pillar  of 
Fire  and  of  Cloud.  Within  the  mountain  ramparts  of  Horeb  it 
stood  before  Sinai,  and,  with  unutterable  solemnities,  was  invested 
with  a  heavenly  robe — a  written  constitution — an  elective  govern- 
ment and  an  atoning  service.  In  Palestine,  the  prophets  of  the 
true  faith  stood  upon  the  mountains,  feeding  signal  fires  for  a  wan- 
dering world — incense,  the  shadow  of  prayer,  rolled  up  in  clouds 
— the  throne  of  David  typified  the  power,  and  his  Egyptian  harp, 
the  music,  of  the  coming  kingdom — the  expecting  nations  saw  the 
gorgeous  symbols  of  evangelic  faith,  until  the  Star  of  Bethlehem 
ushered  the  advent  of  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  who,  beyond  what 
Egypt  ever  knew,  taught  the  world  to  say — "  Our  Father  who 

ART  IN  HEAVEN." 

In  the  later  Jewish  times  Greece  inherited  the  architecture,  the 
philosophy,  the  science,  and,  alas,  the  idolatry  of  Egypt.  But 
the  original  contributions  of  Greece  to  the  civilizing  forces,  will  ever 
challenge  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  mankind.  It  was  not 
blind  fate  that  reared  her  inspiring  mountains — that  opened  her 
crystal  springs,  and  hung  over  all  her  classic  scenes  the  most  be- 
witching skies.  It  was  the  beneficent  creator  of  the  human  fac- 
ulties,  who  thus  contrived  to  inspire  the  fine  conceptions  of  the 
Grecian  mind,  to  which  "a  thing  of  beauty  was  a  joy  forever."  and 
so,  to  endow  a  higher  school,  with  better  masters,  for  Egyptian 
civilization — where  unsurpassed  taste  should  attach  to  ancient 
forms  a  diviner  beauty,  and  adorn  the  world  with  its  secular  graces 
— where  poetry  might  assume  her  stately  measures,  and  find  ex- 
pression in  the  cadences  of  song — where  a  Praxitiles  might  throw 
his  imagination  upon  the  cold  marble,  and  almost  warm  it  into 
life — where  Pluto  might  think  out,  for  all  thinkers,  the  imperisha- 
ble doctrine  of  innate  ideas  and  a  priori  truths,  ami  where  a  per- 
fected language  might  be  prepared,  which  alone  could  best  express 


u; 


the  loving  mission,  and  the  infinite  glory  of  the  world's  Redeemer. 

In  her  turn,  Rome  became  heir  to  the  treasures  of  antiquity, 
and  made,  also,  her  contribution  to  the  progress  of  the  race.  She 
invented  but  little  in  the  physical  arts,  in  poetry,  or  in  religion. 
Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Greece  were  the  Patent  offices  whence  she 
drew  her  models — but  she  did  demonstrate  the  glory  and  utility  of 
the  Supremacy  of  Law.  Her  jurisprudence  fought  her  battles — 
enfranchised  her  citizens — trained  her  orators — dignified  her  court? 
— developed  h<*r  literature,  and  bo-day,  largely  controls  the  eivil- 
ization  of  our  age. 

Apostolic  love  lavished  its  wisdom  and  zeal  on  this  old  iron  em- 
pire, and  the  millenium  would  have  been,  chronologically,  where 
the  Dark  Ages  were,  had  not  the  quintessence  of  depravity  gal- 
vanized dying  paganism  into  life — enthroned  the  beast  from  the 
bottomless  pit,  and  then  by  a  stupendous  fraud,  imposed  the  in- 
vention upon  Europe  as  the  church  of  Christ.  But  Luther's  ham- 
mer, as  he  nailed  his  Theses  to  the  door  of  the  Wittemberg  church, 
aroused  the  nations.  As  when  John  "saw  a  door  opened  in  heaven, 
and  a  throne,  and  He  that  sat  upon  it  appeared  with  a  rainbow 
round  His  head,"  so  when  Luther  opened  the  Bible  to  the  people, 
rightful  authority,  and  inspiring  hope  reappeared  on  earth.  He 
was  the  divinely  selected  switch-tender  on  the  great  road  of  human 
progress,  and  he  ran  the  blood-reddened,  rickety,  Roman  engine 
off  the  track.  But  its  chief  engineer  still  sticks  to  the  old  ma- 
chine ;  and  not  able  any  longer  to  make  fuel  of  Bibles  and  Saints, 
wherewith  to  fire  it  up,  he  amuses  the  age  by  throwing  cold  water 
on  free  presses  and  free  pulpits. 

At  the  Reformation,  there  had  been  prepared,  for  a  disenthralled 
and  scriptural  civilization,  the  compass,  the  printing  press,  the  re- 
vival of  learning,  and  the  discovery  of  a  new  continent.  John 
Calvin  organized  a  body  of  divine  truth  whose  life  is  the  Spirit  of 
God  ;  and  it  ran,  faster  than  Ezekiel's  wheels,  through  Germany, 
France,  Switzerland,  and  England.  It  was  wonderfully  borne  into 
the  Huguenot  and  Puritan  mind,  under  Presbyterian  forms,  and 
winged  them  for  their  flight  to  these  blest  shores.    They  came-- 

"And  the  sounding  aisles  of  the  dim  woods  rang 
With  the  anthem  of  the  free." 


17 


Here  are  we,  then,  enriched  with  all  the  historic  wealth  of  the 
past.  Heaven  throws  its  light  upon  us — and  this  is  the  year  of 
American  jubilee  !  What  manner  of  stewards,  young  gentlemen, 
ought  we  to  he  ?  Shall  we  inherit  Egypt's  treasures,  and  owe  her 
no  service  1  She  was  an  asylum  for  the  infant  Redeemer — who 
will  tell  her  that  He  is  "the  resurrection  and  the  life  ?"  Already, 
Reformed  Presbyterians  are  there,  to  lift  the  dark  pall  from  her 
tomb — the  printing  press  throws  off  leaves  for  her  healing — the 
telegraph  flashes  light  on  her  gloom — and  soon  the  love  of  God  and 
of  man,  wielding  the  sweet  forces  of  a  christian  civilization,  will 
carry  back  to  her  greater  blessings  than  she  ever  lost — and  her 
good  old  rive:-  will  roll  under  brighter  skies,  when  the  songs  indit- 
ed on  Judeah's  hills,  shall  be  sung  through  her  palmy  plains. 


DT61  .W87 

Ancient  civilization  on  the  Nile  :  an 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1012  00049  8149 


